Song - The Announcement

Lyrics

[Verse 1]

In the town of Nazareth, an angel came to say1,

"Oh Mary, do not fear, For you receive God's grace today2.

Do not be afraid for God is by your side,

You will have a Son named Jesus3 In Him all hope will abide4."

[Verse 2]

Mary said "I am willing, let it be as you say5,

for though I am a virgin6 May God's will be done today."

And the angel departed Leaving Mary to rejoice7

that of all the girls in Israel She was God's choice.

[Verse 3]

A child to save the world8, a promise now fulfilled9

Mary's faith unwavering, as she followed God's will.

"Do not be afraid for God is by your side.

You will have a Son named Jesus In Him all hope will abide."

[Verse 4]

Mary said "I am willing, let it be as you say,

for though I am a virgin May God's will be done today."

And the angel departed Leaving Mary to rejoice

that of all the girls in Israel She was God's choice.

[Outro]

A child to save the world, a promise now fulfilled.

Mary's faith unwavering, as she followed God's will.

Background

Personally, I'm not much of a fan of Christmas. I'm not opposed to it, I'll even participate to a limited degree, but it's not really my thing. One of the things I particularly dislike is the music. I have literally 9 songs on my Christmas playlist, and most of those are from a musical called "Spirited".

One thing I dislike about Christmas is that it tends to relegate certain portions of Scripture to a specific season. We focus on the birth of Christ throughout December, but when January rolls back around, we put the Nativity scene back in its box until... At this point, admittedly it seems to be until October (why does it come earlier every year???), and we just forget about it until then.

With my dislike of Christmas music, and the fact that I think we need to think on the birth of our Savior long after the snow melts, I wanted to produce a song for Christmas, but sufficiently non-seasonal that it wouldn't sound out of place in the middle of August. Thus, "The Announcement" was created.

The Announcement is a bare-bones paraphrase of Luke 1:26-38, wherein Gabriel delivers the good news to Mary that she had been chosen to bear the long-awaited Messiah. It speaks of how the angel calmed her, and gave her the good news, casually glossing over her original confusion and hovering over her acceptance.

There is a subtle, secondary theme to the song. You would need an angel's wisdom to pick up on it, but the lyrics are quite carefully crafted to emphasise Mary's humility over her actual identity. It is my belief that while Biblical figures, including Mary, are significant, each of them would prefer to have their names struck from the record rather than draw attention to themselves over Christ. We see this with John the Baptist, for example: "He must increase, but I must decrease.”" (John 3:30).

Just as with John the Baptist, Scripture speaks of Mary only as far as she is relevant. The Roman Catholic Church, however, emphasises her to the point of literal blasphemy. One of those blasphemies is suggesting that Mary was immaculately conceived. That is, just like Jesus, she was entirely free of sin. Thus, I sought to emphasise just how normal she is by having her rejoice "that of all the girls in Israel, she was God's choice." This emphasises how insignificant she really is. There was nothing particularly special about her, as there were many others like her. God could have chosen any one of them. Yet, He chose her. This is why all generations call her blessed. It's not because she was special even from her own conception, but because of who she was specially chosen to conceive.

Ultimately, Mary is a noteworthy figure, and I designed this song to highlight her in the same way Scripture highlights her: As a person chosen to participate in God's plan, pointing us to the fruit of her womb. By her time, the arrival of the Messiah was a long time coming. It had been 700 years since God promised Isaiah that a virgin would conceive. "The Announcement" describes the time an angel announced: "He's finally here. Rejoice."

Scripture references

1. Luke 1:26

2. Luke 1:30

3. Matthew 1:21

4. Acts 4:12

5. Luke 1:38

6. Luke 1:34

7. Luke 1:46-55

8. John 3:17

9. Isaiah 9:6-7

AI usage

This song was produced using Mozart AI.